BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- It isn't unusual that the Republican party is anti-union.

It isn't even unusual that the Republican National Committee
sent to its base a loaded questionnaire with blatantly leading and
highly biased questions.

But it is unusual that the party that claims to ally itself
with homeland security has not-so-subtly attacked the firefighters and
police who responded to 9/11.

The Republicans want their respondents to answer a resounding "No" to the following question:

"Do you believe that the federal government should allow the
unionization of the Department of Homeland Security employees who serve
in positions critical to the safety and security of our nation"?

What the Republicans neither say, nor apparently acknowledge, is that every one of the 60 police and 343 firefighters and paramedics who died on 9/11 were union members. Their union membership did not interfere with their responsibilities or their abilities. Nor did union membership interfere with the city's 37,000 police or 15,000 firefighters and paramedics who either were on alert or responded during the two critical weeks after the attacks of 9/11.

In the U.S., police and staff personnel are represented by several labor organizations, with about 100,000 represented by the International Union of Police Associations and 325,000 represented by the Fraternal Order of Police; more than 295,000 are members of the International Association of Fire Fighters. The Security Police Fire Professionals of America represent more than 30,000 officers at several federal venues, including the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, and NASA.

Union membership for emergency management dispatchers and
thousands of construction workers didn't affect their response to 9/11.
None but the ignorant claim that union membership affects the ability of IRS, ATF, and treasury agents to do their jobs. Nor does anyone but the most uninformed party hacks believe that unionized federal fire
fighters, border, customs, and immigration agents don't perform their
duties because they pay union dues.

Of course, President George W. Bush had no aversion to
standing among unionized construction workers, police, and firefighters
at the site of the former Twin Towers when he wanted innumerable
photo-ops. But, less than a year after 9/11, President Bush said he
would veto the bill to create the Department of Homeland Security if it
allowed the employees to continue their union memberships or if
collective bargaining was permitted for any of the 170,000 employees. It wasn't an idle threat. More than two-thirds of Congress agreed to
sustain his veto.

In January 2004, by executive order, President Bush stripped
more than 500 Department of Justice paralegals, secretaries, and clerks
of union membership, voided previously signed contracts, unilaterally
decertified their unions, and forbid all DoJ workers from collective
bargaining rights.

Bush's rationale was that because staff "have as a
primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or
national security work," their continued union membership was not
"consistent with national security requirements and considerations." No
president before George W. Bush, and no attorney general before John
Ashcroft - not during World War I, World War II, or the Korean and
Vietnam wars - had even suggested that union membership was a deterrent
to effective homeland security.

Although Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, also opposed unions, following an extensive internal review he acknowledged that "the vast majority of [unionized] immigration judges discharge their duties in a manner of which we can all be proud."

In March 2007, Bush again threatened to veto a Congressional
bill that would allow collective bargaining. The Senate had agreed,
51-46, to table an amendment that would have banned collective
bargaining for the nation's 45,000 airport screeners. Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah) said allowing collective bargaining rights would be a "gift to
al-Qaeda." Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the amendment's sponsor, claimed it was "outrageous that some politicians want to protect union bosses more than they want to protect Americans from terrorist attacks."

However, DeMint also was honest about why he wanted to ban collective bargaining. He said allowing collective bargaining in the Department of Homeland Security could lead to labor unions contributing more than $17 million to Democratic campaigns. Once again, President Bush had enough votes to sustain a veto if necessary.

Thirty-six Republican senators and 146 House Republicans wrote to the President, "We believe that providing a select group of federal airport security employees with mandated collective bargaining rights could needlessly put the security of our nation at risk." They never acknowledged that there were no-strike and no work slowdown clauses already in contracts.

Three months later, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia ruled that Bush's previous executive order that banned collective bargaining in the Department of Homeland Security was not only unconstitutional but parts of it were "simply bizarre [and] defies common sense." This was no liberal court - nine of the 13 members were nominated by Republican presidents.

It's been almost eight years since 9/11, and the Republicans
still claim that the nation's security will somehow be threatened by
unionized first responders.

Like any political party, the Republicans can have whatever
principles it wants. But to attack first responders by suggesting they may place union membership above their sworn duty to protect life and
property, even at the risk of their own lives, is not only
disrespectful. It is another Republican disgrace.

AR Senior Correspondent Walter M. Brasch is a university professor and author of 17 books, winner of USA Book News and the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group awards. His column won contests this year at the Pennsylvania Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists, and honorable mention from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Contact him at <mailto:brasch@bloomu.edu> or through his Website.